McColl‘s Retail Group posts strong interim results

McColl‘s Retail Group has reported an 2.2 per cent increase in its total revenue and an 8.1 per cent spike in pre-tax profits for the 26 weeks to May 29, but noted a dip in like-for-likes in that same period as well.

The company‘s total revenue was $469.2 million in that six month period, compared to $459.3 million in 2015.

In terms of pre-tax profits, the company raked in £8.2 million compared to £7.6 million for the same period last year.

Meanwhile, like-for-likes across the group was down 2.2 per cent, but its recently-acquired or converted stores were up one per cent.

Like-for-likes in McColl‘s premium and food and wine stores fell 1.5 per cent, while its newsagents and standard convenience stores dropped 3.7 per cent.

The company said it was on track to achieve financial results in line with the board‘s expectations for the rest of the financial year.

“I am especially pleased that we have been successful in the transformational acquisition of 298 Co-operative stores, announced on 13 July 2016,” McColl‘s chief executive Jonathan Miller said.

“This is a pivotal moment for the business and allows us to accelerate our growth ambitions and considerably increase our neighbourhood presence.”

At present, McColl‘s has 433 newsagents and 933 convenience stores across the UK.

It plans to grow its convenience stores estate to 1000 by the end of this year, before growing it rapidly once it begins acquiring the 298 Co-op outlets from January.